


When We Were Young

by whoevensaidthat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: College AU, Gay, Good times, M/M, Smart Steve, avengers life, bit of angst, duh - Freeform, post-serum Steve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-04-06 12:03:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19062304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoevensaidthat/pseuds/whoevensaidthat
Summary: Bucky and Steve had been great friends in their youth. Then highschool happened. Having had not spoken to one another in almost 4 years, they find their paths crossing at NYU. The college they’re attending. Over time they start to wonder why the stopped being friends in the first place, and why they were never more.





	When We Were Young

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all and welcome to my new story. I hope that you enjoy it, please give it a chance! Anyways yeah, let me know what you think. Have fun reading xx

Steve was 12 when he met James. It was in 6th grade, in fact it was the first day back after the Summer break, and little Steve found rocks plummeting his way. 

He had never before met the boy who put an end to it. Shewing the typical schoolyard bullies away. They all scrambled off the gravel handball court when the boy said; “knock it off, would ya?” 

Steve recalls looking up at the boy, doing his best to ignore the sensitive spot on his cheek where a bruise was no doubt forming. He didn’t want to seem uncool on his first day of midle school. He had, in all honesty, hoped that most of the kids in his school would move to different schools, ones that weren’t across the road from Vormir Elementary School. 

In fact, he had begged his mother to let him go elsewhere. He suggested Xandar Midde School, even Titan Middle School. But his mother insisted it was easier to just go to Vormir Middle School.

 

”Thanks.” 

 

He remembers just how sheepish he sounded. Just a shy, little loser. He hadn’t recognised the boy at all. 

 

“No problem. Figured you couldn’t shake them yourself.”

 

There was an old timeliness to the boy. A smug little grin on his face, he wore an old cap and a linen shirt. He had slightly bucked teeth, and cheeks kissed with light freckles. 

 

-

 

Steve eventually found out that James -who actually insisted on being called Bucky- was a new kid to the school. He had been living in Romania (he told Steve that he was born over there, but spent most of his childhood in New York. He definitely sounded American). Over their time at Vormir Middle School they became close friends. 

The blonde liked having a friend who stood up for him. Having Bucky by his side definitely kept the bullies away. At first it was friendly hellos, but eventually they started hanging out just as normal friends do. That was followed by sleepovers, impromptu baseball games at the local park and so on.

They were friends. The bestest of friends. 

 

-

 

Steve assumed it would last. He had heard rumours that everything changed once highschool hit. He always figured he’d be friends with Bucky. And Bucky had thought the same. Because they had promised to always be friends. 

 

Apparently that promise had an expiration date. 

 

He remembers their fall out like it was yesterday. Things at first had been normal. They both went to Vormir Highschool, just as they had planned. But  once they returned, things weren’t as they had been. Everything changed over the summer. 

Steve had gone to a summer camp, his mother insisted it was a good chance to get some time outdoors before he was stuck in 4 years of non stop studying. Meanwhile, Bucky has gone to Romania, to visit some relatives who lived over there. 

They didn’t speak much. Which was fine. 

But when Bucky saw Steve on the first day of school, he was the one to shy away. 

Not because he didn’t like Steve anymore. But because Steve was talking with a tall boy with shoulder length blonde hair. Bucky didn’t know him. Beside him stood another boy, one who he had avoided all of middle school. Tony Stark. His parents were richer than anyone else at the school. 

He was the one who had been throwing stones at Steve the day they met.

 

Bucky soon found out that the blonde one was named Thor, which was possibly the most pretentious name he had even heard. He was a jock, footballer apparently. Bucky only knew so much about him because he himself had met someone the first day of highschool.

 

”Don’t worry, Thor won’t hurt your friend” a mischievous voice had startled him. As he turned away from Steve’s direction, he saw a tall, somewhat lanky, boy with shoulder length black hair standing behind him. 

That was Loki. Who, while he didn’t know it at the time, would become one of his closest friends through highschool. Loki was Thor’s brother, and while his name was just as pretentious as the eldest of the pair, he was much less of a prick. 

Loki was adopted, and according to him, Thor was always the better one. Bucky at first couldn’t relate. The closest thing he had to a bother was Steve, and in all truthfulness, Bucky knew he was the stronger, and more popular, one out of the two of them. 

Well, that’s how it had been.

 

On the flip side, Steve was having a similar conversation with Thor. 

“The one talking to that random boy over there. Yes that’s him.” 

Thor was in the middle of talking about his adopted brother, who hadn’t attended the summer camp where Steve had met the jock. Steve looked over his shoulder to see the greasy haired boy his new friend had been talking about. He looked like trouble. But that wasn’t important, because beside him was Bucky. The one he hadn’t talked to all summer. His bestest bud. 

 

 

“So dear, how was Bucky’s trip to Romania?” Sarah, Steve’s mother, had asked over the dinner table that night. His father was on a business trip, and it was unusually peaceful in the house. 

“Actually, I didn’t talk to Bucky today. We don’t have any classes together, I think. And I was too busy at lunch to talk to him because I was signing up for a bunch of co-curriculars.” 

Steve knew he was making excuses as to why he didn’t talk to Bucky. It wasn’t all necessarily a lie, he had spent some time signing up for Football, among other things. But he had sat with Thor, Tony and the other popular kids at lunch, in the busy cafeteria. He walked right past Bucky, and he knew it. 

Because for a moment, Bucky smiled and said “Steve” as though trying to grab his attention. He answered his mother honestly when he said he hadn’t spoken to Bucky that day. But Bucky had tried speaking to him. 

 

A small part of him was in fact curious as to how Buckys trip to Romania had been.

 

“Well I’m sure you’ll get a chance to catch up. How about you invite him over after school sometime soon?” Sarah suggested with a warm smile. 

Steve nodded, knowing he wouldn’t actually follow up on it. 

“He grew his hair out. It almost reaches his shoulders now,” he randomly blurted out. He didn’t know why, but he felt the need to tell someone. Because it had taken him by surprise, for the moment he had looked Buckys way it was all he noticed. 

 

 

From the first day of highschool to the last, it was the same. They rarely spoke, let alone looked each other’s way. Steve found himself becoming a popular kid. He was quarterback for the Vormir Vikings. He was unaware that Bucky had attended  the first and last game of the season each year. Steve did well, academics wise. Mostly A’s in all of his classes. Perhaps the occasional B. He thought he had great friends, Thor, Tony, Clint, Carol and others. They all worked well together, and it was always a good time.

 

All the while, Bucky found himself on the opposite end. He became a bit of a nobody, and he didn’t mind it really. He and Loki remained good friends and became a troublesome pair. Usually just goofing off, nothing too harmful. He had other friends too, Natasha, Sam, Wanda, Quill and Bruce. It was an odd mix of nobodies. He liked them. He did well in most of his classes, despite his lack of care. Most of his intelligence was natural. At least, it must’ve been given that he never studied. He also played baseball, Sam did too. Their team usually won, but it was always overlooked.

And so that was that. It was nothing out of the ordinary. But whenever they did see one another, in the hallways, the study hall or even at a random house party there was a sense of...nothing. On both sides, they felt nothing. Which kinda sucked given that their amazing friendship ended so suddenly and with such little explanation. 

 

-

 

College. It was stressful. Sure graduating felt like a step into freedom, but in reality it was just opening a new door to more work. Harder work. That for whatever reason put more pressure on the students. 

NYU was great. Steve loved it, despite the disabling amount of work. He was lucky enough to get the golden spot of quarter back for the football team. All his friends ended up attending the same collage as him, which of course he enjoyed a terrible amount. 

 

It was a rainy Friday night. Well-rainy was an understatement. It was storming. The plummeting rain and bashful thunder made it almost impossible to concentrate in the near silent library. 

Steve had been couped up at a desk near the history section for the better half of 3 hours. There were only 2 weeks until he had to hand in his report on WW2. He knew enough, but since the paper was worth 50% of his mark, he figured he’d try to learn as much as possible. 

After an intense 20 minutes of looking for an online book, one that didn’t cost $30 to download, Steve gave up and decided to make use of the actual books situated around him. 

There were a few odd people scattered across the tables situated in the middle of the room, sitting as far away from one another as possible, so he figured none of them would be interested in stealing his stuff. He hopped up and made his way over to the help desk, almost too tired to care. He wanted to go home, but noted it would be best to wait for the rain to die down. 

“Hi I’m looking for a book,” he said once he reached the desk, even though it was obvious. He looked down at the scribbled writing on his hand. “It’s called -uh- The Veterans of Yesterday.” 

 

He looked up to smile, but he didn’t. Instead he found his jaw ajar and a lump at the back of his throat rising quickly. The boy across from him had a similar expression on his face as their eyes met. 

The boy was wearing a black jumper, a lanyard around his neck attacked to a tag reading ‘helper’. His hair was tied messily into a low bun, a few stray hairs tucked behind his ears. 

“Uh-hey” Bucky couldn’t think of what else to say. He hadn’t spoken to Steve since Middle School. That felt like a lifetime ago. 

Ignoring the pit in his stomach, he quickly began typing at the computer in front of him. If he didn’t say anything, then there was nothing that could go wrong. He just had to do his job. There was 10 minutes until he was allowed to leave. 

“Uh-yeah there’s a copy just over here” Bucky stepped out from behind the desk, and walked past Steve, assuming he would follow. 

They reached the history section and Bucky scanned the shelves for a brief moment before pulling out a thick book with a yellow cover. In bold blue letters read ‘The Veterans of Yesterday.’ Bucky inspected the book as though he was actually interested in what it was about. 

“You doing a history major?” 

Bucky wanted to slap himself for starting a conversation, which was literally the last thing he always wanted to do. His mouth always seemed to have a mind of it’s own. 

Steve shook his head, and gave a friendly half hearted smile. 

“No, it’s my minor. I’m majoring in-”

”Art?” Bucky instantly felt bad for cutting him off, but he felt the need to finish Steve’s sentence.

The blonde had a somewhat impressed look on his face. His left eyebrow was risen and a smile, the smallest of smiles, was tugging at the corner of his mouth. Even without the football leatherman jacket, he still had the grin of an over confident jerk. 

“Yeah,” Steve replied casually, “what are you majoring in?” 

“Engineering.” He kept it to the point. 

Then came the silence. The awkward, unwanted, and certainly unwelcome silence. Steve realised how quiet it had been in the library aside from the small talk he had been engaged in. He looked down at the floor, a habit from his youth, back when he wasn’t...well wasn’t who he had become. He noticed how scuffed and worn out Bucky’s shoes were. They were doc martens, but looked like they were over a decade old. The laces were all undone at the ends and the tongue of the left shoe was folded down, revealing the fact that Bucky was wearing bright blue socks with yellow bananas on them. 

“So why are you working here?” Steve decided to finally say something. 

“I wish I working. If I was being paid I think I’d be happier to be here.” Bucky let out a small laugh. Steve was almost surprised at how charismatic it was. “I’m doing community service.” 

“What trouble did you get yourself into this time?” Steve asked with a raised eyebrow, and a fatherly tone.

He was joking of course, but there was a small part of him that really didn’t want Bucky getting into any trouble. As far as he was aware, in their highschool days Buckey had detention every other week, and was often writing the most unapologetic apology letters the worlds ever seen. 

“Crashed my bike into a tree. Apparently that tree was important or some shit like that so here I am.” 

“I can’t imagine a bike would’ve done much damage” Steve added with a hint of confusion in his tone. 

Bucky gave him a look. An _are you a complete_ _idiot_  look. Of course, when they were younger, Bucky had always treated Steve like a bit of an idiot. Just in a teasing, goofy way. Needless to say, he knew Bucky didn’t mean it. In fact, in year 8, the last year of middle school, the class was receiving their midterm papers back for science. He had received a C, which really pissed him off. Bucky was at the desk beside him when it happened, so naturally Steve had looked over in an attempt to see what his friends mark was. Bucky got an A. 

“I’m dumb. That’s it, I’m a complete idiot.” Steve recalled saying when they had been walking home. 

Bucky had stopped and turned to him. 

“Steve it’s one C. It’s not the end of the world.” 

“Easy for you to say, you got an A” he had replied quickly. 

Buxky had just let out a sigh. “You’re a fucking genius Steve. Okay? I’ll help ya study for the next test.” 

It was the first time Bucky had actually sworn directly to him. For some reason, he remembered that above all else. Because Bucky had been such a good guy, and then he said a word Steve was barely familiar with. 

 

Steve was snapped out of his little flashback when Bucky replied.

”My motorbike, Steve. I crashed my motor bike into a tree.” He let out another small laugh. 

 _This is nice_ , Steve decided at that exact moment. It was nice just talking as opposed to shooting each other menacing glares across the cafeteria. The conversation was awkward, but nonetheless it wasn’t all that bad.

”Well then, that tree should be doing community service. Even if it was important or whatever.” Steve smiled a bit. 

And then it fell silent. The small talk was over. It was nice while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end. Just like their friendship had. 

“Thanks-uh-for the book.” Steve spoke, beginning to walk back to the desk where his books were splattered messily across the table. 

Bucky followed him, but turned to walk back to the desk he had been at when Steve had approached him. 

“It’s what I’m here for.” 

And that was it. 

 

\- - -

 

10 minutes later, Steve looked across the library to see Bucky shoving a laptop into his old world out bag, seeming to pack up all his belongings as well. An urge to do the same rushed over him. So he did. A little too suddenly, he began shoving his books into his bag, along with his laptop and so on. He stood up and began walking towards the elevator, right where Bucky was. 

The ‘down’ button was already illuminated, and Bucky stood with earphones in and his hands shoved in his pockets. His foot tapped against the carpet in a soft manner, but the beat seemed fast. As Steve approached, he started to wonder what Bucky was listening too. Probably some rock band from the 80’s that no one had ever heard of. 

The evelvator doors opened, and both of them stepped inside. Steve took it upon himself to press the button that read ‘P4’, as that’s where his car was parked. It was nothing special. An old ranger rover that he’d bought from a junkyard that was going to crush it. His parents had enough money to buy him some nice, new, lavish one but he wanted to make the purchase himself. With the little money he had at the time. 

Bucky looked at the button, and then at a poster on the wall. For reasons he really couldn’t explain, Steve was happy that they were heading to the same floor. 

When the door opened and a small chime ring throughout the elevator, they both exited in silence. Bucky stopped where all the bikes-motorbikes at that-were parked. 

“Don’t tell me you’re riding that in this weather” Steve decided to say something.

Bucky gave him a small smile as he pulled his earphones out. He then dropped his backpack to the floor and pulled out a leather jacket. 

“Well I don’t really have any other means of transport, so yeah. Don’t worry, I’ll try not to crash into any trees.” There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Steve tried to ignore the fact that Bucky suited the leather jacket he was wearing perfectly. He grabbed helmet from the compartment situated at the back of bike. 

“Thanks again for your help with the book-oh shit I forgot to actually borrow it.” Steve mentally punched himself but before he would run off to the elevator, Bucky stopped him.

”Oh don’t worry I already registered it for you.” He casually said, then shoving the helmet onto his head. Steve noted that he didn’t look recognisable. 

He flipped up the screen that was there to protect his eyes. They looked even more blue than Steve had noticed earlier. Then again it was hard to not notice them when they where the only things on his face that were exposed. 

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Steve managed to reply. 

“S’all good” Bucky’s reply was muffled but still audible, “I’ll see you around I guess. Or not. Or-uh-yeah just g’night.” 

“Night.” Steve smiled, and began walking off. And though it had been an awkward exchange he still felt glad as to have talked to Bucky for the first time in while. He just wished he had asked about his trip to Romania.


End file.
